The Zhitong Finance App learned that the Federal Reserve announced that it would keep interest rates unchanged as scheduled, maintain the guideline of cutting interest rates 3 times during the year, and adjusted the market's expectations for the Fed to cut interest rates in June. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fluctuated at a high level throughout the day, approaching the 10,000 mark in the intraday period. At the close, the Hang Seng Index rose 1.93% or 320.03 points to 16863.1 points, with a full day turnover of HK$118.51 billion; the Hang Seng State-owned Enterprises Index rose 1.75% to 5905.27 points; and the Hang Seng Technology Index rose 0.89% to 3582.9 points.

Fangzheng Securities pointed out that Hong Kong stock trading sentiment is picking up marginally, and it is recommended to pay attention to subsequent changes in overseas interest rate cuts expectations and domestic capital market policy trends. In the short term, strong capital market policies have boosted the fundamentals of the Hong Kong stock market. It is expected that domestic capital market policies will continue to increase in the future, the Federal Reserve's monetary policy will be loosened with strong certainty, and the medium- to long-term allocation and cost effectiveness of the Hong Kong stock market will improve.

Blue chip stock performance

Shunyu Optical Technology (02382) led the blue chip decline after the results. At the close, it fell 13.16% to HK$46.85, with a turnover of HK$1,657 billion, dragging down the Hang Seng Index by 7.84 points. Goldman Sachs pointed out that Sunyu's net profit for the second half of last year was 663 million yuan, 6% lower than the median guideline, and 6% and 18% lower than the bank's and market forecasts, respectively. Shunyu's management believes that the pricing pressure for mobile phone lenses and camera modules comes from competition and a reduction in smartphone camera specifications.

In terms of other blue-chip stocks, China Hongqiao (01378) rose 5.83% to HK$7.62, contributing 1.83 points to the Hang Seng Index; Hong Kong China Gas (00003) rose 5.69% to HK$6.32, contributing 5.92 points to the Hang Seng Index; Xinyi Solar (00968) fell 1.71% to HK$6.32, dragging down 0.85 points; China Unicom (00762) fell 0.53% to HK$5.66, dragging down the Hang Seng Index by 0.29 points.

In terms of popular sectors

On the market, most large technology stocks flourished. Meituan rose nearly 4%, and closed up nearly 1% after Tencent's results; spot gold hit another record high, and gold stocks were collectively strong; real estate recently welcomed substantial benefits, with domestic housing and property management stocks generally rising; catering stocks, gaming stocks, non-ferrous metals stocks, beer stocks, and bank stocks all rose. On the other hand, performance fell short of expectations, and Shunyu Optical Technology plummeted 13%.

1. Domestic housing stocks showed strong performance. At the close, Longhu Group (00960) rose 5.57% to HK$10.62; China Overseas Development (00688) rose 4.54% to HK$11.06; China Resources Land (01109) rose 3.7% to HK$25.25; and Longguang Group (03380) rose 3.51% to HK$0.59.

On March 19, the Office of the Leading Group for the Pilot Reform of the Guangzhou Engineering Construction Project Approval System publicly solicited comments on revisions to the “Guangzhou Commercial Housing Project Overview and Pre-sale License Optimization Approval Implementation Plan”. The “Opinion Draft” updated the expression “first phase residential project” to “the first batch of projects applying for pre-sale” and deleted the content “the first phase of housing must not exceed 50% of the total construction volume”. In terms of optimization measures, the first batch of residential projects applying for pre-sale of residential projects is not limited to the number of buildings and the number of construction planning permits involved.

CITIC Construction Investment pointed out that real estate received some substantial positive news this week. Hangzhou completely lifted restrictions on second-hand housing purchases and adjusted the value-added tax exemption period for home purchases to two years; at the same time, Shenzhen Railway Group, the largest shareholder of Vanke, plans to subscribe for no more than 30% of CICC's consumer REIT through strategic placement. Two major news led to a sharp rise in the real estate sector.

2. Gold stocks rose across the board. At the close, Zhaojin Mining (01818) rose 6.95% to HK$9.54; Shandong Gold (01787) rose 5.76% to HK$15.78; China Gold International (02099) rose 4.03% to HK$49.05; and Lingbao Gold (03330) rose 3.85% to HK$2.7.

The US Federal Reserve decided to keep interest rates unchanged in the 5.25% to 5.5% range and reiterated the expectation that interest rates would be cut three times this year. Spot gold continued to rise, once rising to 2222.65 US dollars/ounce, reaching another record high. China Post Securities pointed out that with the adjustment of market expectations, the price of gold remained volatile at a high level. Although the economy has occasionally exceeded expectations in the short term, the overall trend of declining inflation starting in 2023 will not be affected.

3. Bitcoin concept stocks moved higher. At the close, Liberal Arts Interactive (00434) rose 18.42% to HK$2.25; Xinhuo Technology Holdings (01611) rose 11.59% to HK$3.37; OSL Group (00863) rose 8.7% to HK$7.87; and Meitu (01357) rose 2.51% to HK$3.67.

Bitcoin turned higher on Wednesday, reversing the decline in early trading. Investors temporarily halted recent sell-offs and began considering the Federal Reserve's latest policy decisions. Bitcoin rebounded strongly, breaking through the $68,000 mark, with a 24-hour increase of 6.92%. Cryptocurrency tax platform CoinLedger's previous research report indicated that Bitcoin has only been halved three times so far, but the price of Bitcoin has soared by an average of 400% in the year after the past two halves. Based on whether Bitcoin reached 69,000 US dollars when it was halved in April, the study predicted that it would reach 115,000 US dollars in the future.

4. Gaming stocks picked up today. At the close, MGM China (02282) rose 4.27% to HK$12.2; Galaxy Entertainment (00027) rose 3.82% to HK$40.8; Sands China (01928) rose 3.55% to HK$21.9; and Aobo Holdings (00880) rose 3.03% to HK$2.38.

The Macau Tourism Board previously announced that from March 6, the Mainland will add Xi'an in Shaanxi Province and Qingdao in Shandong Province as “individual tourist” cities for Hong Kong and Macao. The purpose of this adjustment is to actively expand the number of visitors, expand the mainland market, and accelerate the recovery of the tourism economy. UBS pointed out that the operating expenses, competitive environment and non-gaming business development of Macau gaming companies are turning positive, and that it is optimistic about the prospects of the industry, and chose Sands China. As far as demand is concerned, Macau gaming companies are generally optimistic about the sustainability of the recovery in midfield gaming revenue, and non-gaming activities are also increasing Macau's appeal.

Popular volatile stocks

1. Bubble Mart (09992) surged after the results. By the close, it had risen 15.99% to HK$28.65.

Bubble Mart achieved revenue of 6.3 billion yuan in 2023, up 36.5% year on year; adjusted net profit was 1.19 billion yuan, up 107.6% year on year, and both revenue and net profit reached record highs. In addition, the company plans to use 35% of profits to pay dividends, amounting to 378 million yuan. This is also the largest dividend since Bubble Mart went public.

2. Ping An Health (01833) rose significantly. At the close, it rose 6.83% to HK$13.14.

Ping An Health recorded revenue of 4.67 billion yuan for the full year of 2023, and the net loss narrowed sharply by 47.6% year on year to 330 million yuan. Among them, there was strong growth in the strategic business. Revenue from health care services for insurance and financial clients was 2.20 billion yuan, up 14.8% year on year, and enterprise employee health management service revenue was 1.08 billion yuan, up 81.2% year on year. The business structure was continuously optimized, driving the company's gross margin to rise 5.4 percentage points to 32.3% year on year, and profits are expected to accelerate.

3. Xiaopeng Motor-W (09868) was under pressure throughout the day. At the close, it fell 6.54% to HK$37.9.

According to Form 144 submitted by Xiaopeng Motor in the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Taobao China Holdings Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Alibaba, plans to sell 33 million copies of Xiaopeng Motor ADS, with a total value of about US$314 million. The sale date is around March 20, 2024.

Initial listing of IPOs

MIGAO GROUP (09879) drives high and runs low. At the close, it was up 0.25% to HK$4.09.

The MGM Group sold 225 million shares globally, with a final sale price of HK$4.08 per share. The net global sale raised approximately HK$863 million, or 1,000 shares per lot. According to reports, Migao Group is a domestic potash fertilizer company in China. It specializes in various potash fertilizer products, covering product lines such as potassium chloride, potassium sulfate, potassium nitrate, and compound fertilizer. In the past performance record period, the main products of the Migao Group were potassium chloride and sodium sulfate.